fSpace

fSpace recently celebrated our 4th birthday with an event that included a visit from Mayor Brad Pettitt.

The mayor was on hand to formally announce funding for a third Business Development Program – a collaborative program between fSpace and The City of Fremantle that provides financial support to businesses within the creative industries.

Mayor Pettitt said, “The Business Development Program is a unique collaboration between the City of Fremantle and fSpace designed to promote the local creative and knowledge economy, assist start-ups and small business to grow and to encourage innovation in Fremantle.”

“This program has been a great driver in attracting individuals and businesses from outside Fremantle, with the majority of participants still going strong here in Fremantle.”

fSpace owner, Sabine Albers, said that over the two previous years, this program has helped over 20 businesses develop and grow in Fremantle.

“In addition to the financial support towards a professional workspace, businesses have benefited from the inspiring energy, collaborations, and strong sense of community at fSpace.”

She added that some former program participants have grown their businesses and are now in larger, dedicated offices in Fremantle.

“Our members, including former program participants, are doing ground breaking and award winning things in a variety of industries, including creative, health, professional services and technology.”

The Business Development Program offers qualified businesses and start-ups three to six months of subsidised workspace at fSpace.

To be eligible for the program, a business must fall within the creative industries sector. These are businesses that are primarily focused on individual creativity, skill and talent.

Curve Tomorrow was one of the first participants of this program when they expanded to Western Australia from offices in Melbourne.

Mo Jaimangal, a cofounder and director of Curve Tomorrow, previously explained during an fSpace Talks Event that they seek to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people by applying their knowledge of technology in health and medical services.

When the mayor asked for an example of this, Mo spoke about the work they’ve done with leading autism researchers to automate the diagnosis of children on the autism spectrum.

He explained, “We’ve taken what they were doing – a very manual process with psychologists observing children playing with toys, timing them with a stopwatch and making notes with pen and paper – and created a game that can be played on an iPad.”

“In addition to a quicker and more efficient diagnosis that leads to earlier treatments, this assessment can be done anywhere. We collect and store the test results on a secure cloud, where psychologists can look at them and decide on treatments.”

The Business Development Program is available to new business start-ups as well as existing businesses that are looking to develop and grow from Fremantle.

This year’s program has added optional coaching and mentorship towards developing a formal business plan – a crucial step for any new business start up.

Sabine Albers said she loves the diversity of the people who share and make her fSpace what it is.

“It’s really exciting to have such a mix of passionate people doing so many interesting and helpful things. The energy this creates is just fantastic.”

Sabine added that values of empathy, respect and support continue to create an inspiring atmosphere that not only helps maximize productivity, but also creates an environment that people want to a part of.

Marie Wong was the latest to share what she does at a recent fSpace Talks event. Marie is a lawyer and trade mark attorney who specializes in intellectual property (IP) and works from fSpace one day a week. Marie is a Principal of Wrays, a specialist IP practice that provides advice and assistance in all areas of IP protection and branding strategy, with offices across Australia.

While Marie focuses on brand protection (incorporating trade marks, copyright, domain names, branding & e-commerce), she works closely with her other IP colleagues at Wrays who specialize in the filing and enforcement of registered designs and patents across scientific fields such as engineering, computing, chemistry and life sciences. The focus of Wrays and Marie’s practice as an IP lawyer is supporting creativity and innovation.

Marie described IP as the intangible property of the mind which gives rise to a tangible and valuable product or outcome for society.

Marie provided an overview of the different types of IP that all businesses – large or small – deal with every day. Marie provided an example of today’s smartphones, which are protected by: over 1000 patents, including for their semiconductors, batteries and screens; copyright protecting the artwork and software code; design rights to protect aesthetics; and, of course, trade marks – the brand names, logos and other distinctive signs (including shape marks) by which products such as the “iPhone” are differentiated.

Whilst copyright (protecting the expression of words, software code and artistic form) is an unregistered right, which is automatically granted, and has a ‘long life’ protection (typically 70 years after the death of the author), other rights – such as registered design and patent rights – need to be applied for (usually before any commercial use or disclosure) and last only 10 to 20 years from the date the design/patent was registered.

Trade marks, the area in which Marie works most, can be registered or unregistered and have a potentially unlimited lifespan. Marie works with a variety of clients from a range of different industries to identify and protect their core brands, and regularly assists clients with trade mark audits, searching and clearance (for proposed brand names, logos and taglines), and trade mark filing and enforcement, both locally and overseas. She also helps her clients prevent cybersquatting by watching and protecting new domain names and extensions, and filing complaints when necessary.

One client is another member from fSpace who is a graphic designer. Marie has worked with the designer and her client to ensure that a proposed new brand identity was available for registration as a domain name and trade mark, and to secure registered trade mark protection for the new brand name. Marie regularly works with creative agencies to identify legal issues in the use and roll-out of creative and marketing collateral, including websites and digital marketing.

Marie also noted her own experience with seeking registration of a trade mark for “Roaming Kitchen”, a side-project that Marie and fellow fSpace member, Kim-Vu Salamonsen, have been working on to promote a “unique pop-up kitchen, roaming
through different rooms, flavours and musical delights in sunny Perth,
Western Australia”, based in Fremantle. The trade mark encountered difficulties to registration because the name of the restaurant, Roaming Kitchen, was deemed to be a common term or descriptor and therefore ineligible for trademark protection. Marie described the process of preparing submissions and gathering evidence of use, in the role of the “client”, to try and get this trade mark across the line.

Thanks to Marie for giving us a glimpse into the world of IP and the protections that go with it. Anyone wanting advice on IP is welcome to contact Marie at marie.wong@wrays.com.au.

fSpace is pleased to announce that Jason Normandale has joined fSpace as Sales & Marketing Manager.

In addition to helping promote fSpace and attract new members, Jason will also be directly involved in our continuing efforts to enhance the fSpace atmosphere and experience as we strive to provide the best and most inspiring environment for our members to produce their best work.

Jason can be reached at jason@fspace.me or 0427 929 186 – welcome Jason!

Loop is a cool group of people who are linking coworking spaces around the world. Loop offers monthly plans that lets its members work at over 90 (and counting) coworking spaces for free or discounted rates.

fSpace is pleased to announce an upgrade in our internet connection – and it’s more than just a change in the monthly plan! We’ve upgraded from the ubiquitous WA copper connection to a fibre optic cable connection.

A big thanks to Deb Fitzpatrick for speaking about her passions – creative writing and editing work – at the latest fSpace Talks.

Deb is an established author, with 5 published novels to date. Her focus is on youth and young adult fiction set in Western Australia. One of her books is taught in some primary schools.

It was interesting and inspiring to learn about her creative process, including how she develops an initial idea of a story into a fully developed and properly researched novel. Deb often finds inspiration through news stories and then applies that theme or challenge to a younger protagonist.

She also explained how important personal knowledge and experience is to her creative writing, from day-to-day conversations with her own kids to the less than glamorous living conditions in Costa Rica she endured for 4 years.

We are celebrating Fremantle’s first ever condiment cookbook by fSpace based local graphic designer Kim-Vu.

Celebrating the Asian region, Condiments & Marinades of Asia was created by Ms Kim-Vu showcasing her recipes for the top six condiments from our neighbouring region including Kimchi, honey ginger rib marinade and Vietnamese peanut sauce. Originally inspired by traditional home-style Vietnamese cooking, and following a successful pop-up backyard experience (#roamingkithcenfreo) in sharing her recipes, Kim-Vu put her well-loved recipes together to share with others.

A self-published book, Condiments and Marinades of Asia is the first in a series of condiments cookbooks based on food from cultures all around the globe. The launch of Condiments and Marinades of Asia is proudly sponsored by Brophy Estate Agent. Photography by Sabine Albers Photography.

Grab a copy from http://www.kim-vu.com/product/condiments-and-marinades-of-asia/

It’s our birthday next month! fSpace turns 3 on July 1. No more terrible 2’s for us!

fSpace would like to thank all our business owners and awesome entrepreneurs, (past and present) for their support. Their passion, energy and enthusiasm are why fSpace has become such an incredible coworking community in Fremantle.

fSpace is growing as we enter our 4th year. We now have over 30 businesses from various industries working from fSpace. But more than the number of businesses, we are most pleased with the quality of the people who honour us by being part of our community.

fSpace is inspired by our members and I thank them for their passion, energy and open support of one another. It is thanks to our members that fSpace has become such an inspiring and motivating community of professionals and small business owners.

fSpace looks forward to continuing to inspire, motivate and support people as they chase their professional dreams. That’s another reason to celebrate!

The Fremantle Chamber of Commerce recently organised another great event, The Fremantle Business Awards for 2016. Held at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, a broad and colourful selection of Fremantle’s business community gathered to celebrate their hard work and achievements in business.

The Esplanade Hotel filled up with business owners and entrepreneurs, most of whom looked spectacular having dressed to the theme of the film Casino Royale. Bright lights, classic Bond music, casino ballroom décor and even a shiny new Aston Martin all made the event something to behold.

fSpace was a finalist for the Excellence in Professional Services Awards. Although we didn’t walk away with the award (or drive away in the car), we did leave feeling even more inspired thanks to the other finalists and winners.

fSpace is ready for another year of great community, inspiration and success!